SHARE:
2007 Industry Outlook
Energy
The corn ethanol craze will continue in 2007. But some scientists say the state may someday be able to produce all the ethanol it needs using homegrown biomass — from sugar cane to wood waste.
Nuclear Progress
Progress Energy has powered up plans for a second nuclear power plant in Florida, in Levy County on the sparsely populated north-central Gulf coast. The 3,000-acre site is about seven miles from the Gulf of Mexico and eight miles north of the company's Crystal River nuclear plant. Site selection is not a decision to build, says Progress Energy Florida President and CEO Jeffrey Lyash; that decision is still a year or so away. "But it is a critical step in ensuring that nuclear power remains open and viable for future years," he says.
Progress Energy Florida serves 1.6 million customers statewide and is growing 2% to 3% a year. In the next decade, the company expects demand to increase 25%. Lyash says while Progress is investing millions, along with state and federal government partners, in alternative energy such as hydrogen fuel-cells and solar, Florida's growth demands that it also plan reliable generating capacity, including nuclear and coal plants.
If plans are approved by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, clearing and construction could begin as early as 2010, and a new plant could be online around 2016.
